How-To Geek

With Linux, especially if you're new, it can be confusing when the operating system slows down—seemingly out of the blue. It can happen with any OS, but you might know how to pinpoint it on Windows, yet not Linux.

Wikipedia, the beloved online encyclopedia, has debated for a while on how to handle the use of large language models (LLMs) in articles. Now, the practice is officially banned, save for a few exceptions in editing and translation.

Back when SSDs were a distant future, and we were all using hard drives, there wasn't really much speed to choose other than 5400 rpm and 7200 rpm. So we had to rely on sloppy hacks and tricks to get our drives working faster. One common trick was short-stroking.

The web began by empowering users, serving us with static content that could be repurposed and tailored to whichever device was in use. But, slowly, websites have wrestled back control, enforcing their own preferences for style and behavior.

While mobile devices are fine for chatting, reading, and watching, sometimes you need a real computer to get work done. But, it's become expensive to keep Windows PC up to date. Switching to Linux means you can keep using your old PC, and save money in other ways, too.

Alas, spring has sprung, and as we roll through this last week of March, we’re doing so with some of the trending movies on Amazon Prime Video this week.

Niagara Launcher is famous for reinventing the Android home screen. I love the concept, but I’ve never been able to fully stick with it. Recently, I decided to install Niagara again, and this time it feels different for a few reasons.

Power tool brands offer a wide range of tools and accessories, giving us more choices than ever these days. Big names like Ryobi and Milwaukee make all the common items, like drills and drivers, but they also make some tools you've probably never heard of. Earlier this year, I bought an oddball Ryobi "bucket top" tool on a whim, and now I wish I had one sooner.

Are you still running your servers with Linux installed bare metal? It’s time to upgrade and move to a hypervisor, especially if you want to start working toward a more professional homelab.

Most of the time when you stay at an AirBnB, some kind of Wi-Fi is included. However, you have no control over the security settings and you may run into restrictions on how many or what kind of devices you can connect.

I have a lot of smart home sensors in my home. However, one of my most useful sensors isn't actually a real sensor at all. It doesn't exist as a physical device; it's a virtual sensor living inside Home Assistant.

You download a file from the internet only to discover that it isn't in the format you need. Your editing programs don't like it, the thumbnail isn't displaying properly, and what is a WebP anyway? Thanks to an open-source project, you can now instantly convert most common media files by simply right-clicking them.

Automakers often revive iconic nameplates to tap into nostalgia, bringing back familiar designs with modern updates. But in today’s market, those revivals increasingly come with electrified powertrains rather than traditional engines. One of Jeep’s most recognizable SUVs has returned under exactly those conditions, blending heritage styling with a very different kind of technology under the hood.

If you dig an old smartphone out of a drawer and plug it in, you can usually expect it to power on and be largely how you left it. That's not the case with many older phones, despite how rugged many of us recall them being. Even if they do come on, you may find that many of your fond memories are gone.

Downtime is the enemy of any homelab—mine especially. So, I finally decided to do something about it and made my homelab highly available. I only was able to do that because I already knew about it, so, if you’ve never heard of high availability, here’s why you should know about this unique trick.

The internet is a vital part of daily life, and you should get the speeds you pay for. This is a quick and easy way to turn a Raspberry Pi into an internet speed monitor so you can be sure you can know for a fact if your ISP is ripping you off.

I love making creative projects the old-fashioned way. As a teenager, I played around with Dreamweaver, Quark Xpress, and Flash. In college and at work, I used Adobe InDesign or Microsoft Publisher for most of my projects. For me, a desktop publishing project or a handmade website is a fun journey where I learn things and feel enriched by the experience. The end result matters, but it isn't the entire point of what I do.

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are perfect if you want some electric driving without the stress of range limits. Most have enough pure EV range to cover your everyday drives, and when the battery dips, the hybrid mode kicks in as a handy backup.

Gas prices are skyrocketing across the country. According to AAA, the national average for a gallon of regular fuel is $3.88 at the time of this writing. That is about a 33 percent increase from just one month ago. Last night I paid $5.09 per gallon for 94 octane. I could have gone out for a nice steak dinner for the price of filling my tank. So, in times like these, it is natural for people to try to get the most out of a gallon of gas.